Mooyeon Lee

A Study on Performance Characteristics of Propane/Isobutane Refrigerant Mixtures in a Domestic Small Multi-Refrigeration System

In this paper, the performance of Kim-chi refrigerator with three evaporator and one compressor was investigated in employing propane and isobutane (R290/R600a) refrigerant mixture as an alternative refrigerant of R134a. The drop-in test was performed by varying both refrigerant charge and capillary tube length in order to find both the performance and reliability of a small multi-refrigeration system. Results show that the power consumption is decreased by about and COP is increased by about , respectively as compared to the baseline system using R-134a. In addition, the propane/isobutane refrigerant mixture system took advantage of the minimization of modification and redesigning of system components because thermodynamic properties such as saturation pressure, temperature, normal boiling point(NBP) characteristics are similar to those of R134a. The reduction of sales cost is caused by the decrease of refrigerant cost per unit mass and refrigerant charge amount necessary for the refrigeration system.

Frosting heat transfer characteristics of evaporators used for household refrigerators according to fin configuration

The objective of this study is to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of evaporators that have various fin configurations and are used in household refrigerators. The frosting and defrosting characteristics of a spirally coiled circular fin-tube evaporator, a discrete-plate fin-tube evaporator, and a continuous-plate fin-tube evaporator were measured and compared. Under non-frosting conditions, the heat transfer coefficient of the spirally coiled circular fin-tube evaporator was 22.3% and 40.2% higher than the coefficients of the discrete- and continuous-plate fin-tube evaporators, respectively. Under frosting conditions, the heat transfer coefficient of the spirally coiled circular fin-tube evaporator was 27.0% and 46.3% higher than the coefficients of the discrete- and continuous-plate fin-tube evaporators, respectively. In addition, the defrosting water amount of the spirally coiled circular fin-tube evaporator was 3.2% and 9.4% lower than the amounts in the case of the discrete- and continuous-plate fin-tube evaporators, respectively.

Experimental study on the air-side heat transfer characteristics of a spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger according to geometric parameters

The objective of this study is to investigate the air-side heat transfer characteristics of a spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger for various geometric parameters under non-frosting conditions. The heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger were analyzed with respect to heat exchanger geometries, and then, the characteristics were compared with those of rectangular-plate fin-tube heat exchangers with discrete fins. The heat transfer coefficient increased with a decrease in the number of tube rows and an increase in the fin pitch. The optimum length of the L-foot was 2.7 mm. In addition, the heat transfer rate increased with a decrease in the tube pitch and the tube thickness. The heat transfer coefficient of the spirally-coiled circular fin-tube heat exchanger was 24.3% higher than that of the rectangular-plate fin-tube heat exchanger.

Analytical study on the heat transfer characteristics of a spirally coiled circular fin-tube evaporator operated under non-frosting conditions

The objective of this study is to predict the heat-transfer performance of a spirally coiled circular fin-tube evaporator in which either R134a or R600a was used; this heat-transfer performance was predicted by varying the mass flow rate, inlet air temperature, air flow rate, and tube thickness. Mean deviation for the analytical model from the measured data was . Simulation results revealed that at a given mass flow rate, the heat-transfer rate of the evaporator using R600a was higher than that usingR134a because the enthalpy of the former is higher than that of the latter at the given conditions. The heat-transfer rate of both refrigerants increased with an increase in the air flow rate and inlet air temperature but decreased with an increase in the tube thickness.

Numerical Analysis on the Frosting Performance of a Fin-tube Evaporator for a Refrigerator

Abstract The objective of this study is to provide numerical and experimental data that can be used to investigate the performance characteristics of a flat plate fin-tube evaporator in household and commercial refrigerators under frosting conditions. Computer simulations with variations of operating conditions such as air inlet temperature, relative humidity, and geometries were performed to find out optimal design parameters of a fin-tube evaporator for household and commercial refrigerators. The tube-by-tube method was used in the simulation and the frost growth model was considered under frosting conditions. The developed analytical model predicted the decreasing rates of heat transfer capacity and air flow rate ratio within ± 10% compared to the experimental results for a refrigerator under real operating conditions. As a result, the frost thickness at 3 ℃ & 80% is increased 40% than that of -3 ℃ & 80%, and the frost thickness at 3 ℃ & 90% is increased 30% than that of 3 ℃ & 60%. Accordingly, the operating time of the evaporator in the refrigerator was reduced with the increase of the decreasing rate of air flow rate ratio at each condition. 기호설명